Archive:Wade Rathke
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WCP: The Unanswered Question about the Future of US Labor Unions
On Labor Day, Americans celebrate workers, including the accomplishments of labor unions. What might the future bring for American unions? Will new leadership at the AFL-CIO bring new energy to organ
Categories: News, Working-Class Perspectives
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WCP: Amazon and the Southern Key
In Working-Class Perspectives this week, Wade Rathke argues that while we shouldn't be surprised that the recent effort to unionize Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama failed, the campaign reminds us
Categories: News, Working-Class Perspectives
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WCP: Unemployed Workers of the World Unite?!?
As we mark Labor Day in the US, more Americans are out of work than at any time in recent memory. But that makes this an ideal time for labor action.
Category: News
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WCP: May Day 2020: Workers in the Pandemic Time
In most years, workers around the world celebrate May Day with marches, usually led by labor unions and the political parties and allies that support them. But as Wade Rathke writes in this week’s Working-Class Perspectives, May Day 2020 probably won’t be remembered for marches but for the struggle and sacrifice of workers, many newly understood to be essential, others newly unemployed. The fragility of work in an unequal global economy has been laid bare in this season of the pandemic, but workers are also organizing and winning both greater respect and, in some cases, better treatment.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: The Challenges of Organizing “Gig” Workers
When we think about organizing precarious “gig” workers, the task seems biblical. The workers may be ready, or not, but the spirit and the flesh are weak. We all bemoan the rise of gig workers. Low pay, few hours, no benefits are some of them, worsened by the uncertainty of a position where you can only work to deliver something being demanded by consumers at a premium you are powerless to control.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Time to Make a Deal on the Federal Minimum Wage
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at the poverty level of $7.25 per hour since 2009. In this week's Working-Class Perspective, Wade Rathke argues that workers cannot wait for a new Congress or a
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Labor’s Day, More or Less?
The U.S. labor movement is facing bitter legal and political attacks. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective Wade Rathke asserts that the talk of unions dying off is greatly exaggerated. Rathke points to a surge of worker-led organizing across the country and the ability of unions in other parts of the world to thrive in even harder circumstances than the ones set by Janus.
Categories: Bargaining for the Common Good, Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Predatory Lenders Making American Nightmares From American Dreams
As if losing their homes during the foreclosure crisis was not cruel enough, working-class families are now being lured by predatory lenders into deceptive rent-to-own contracts. As Wade Rathke expl
Category: Visiting Scholars